LYNDA Spence’s business partner was shown her severed thumb in a carrier bag by one of the men accused of her murder, a court heard yesterday.

John Glen claimed Colin Coats took out the Asda bag in the street and told him: “We’ve got her.”

The property company director said Coats later threatened his life and his family.

And he said: “Colin Coats told me Lynda had offered him £20,000 to kill me. He told me the only reason he hadn’t done it was because he didn’t think he would get paid.”

Coats, 42, David Parker, 38, Paul Smith, 47, and Philip Wade, 42, deny abducting, torturing and murdering Lynda at a flat in West Kilbride, Ayrshire, over a fortnight in April 2011. Mr Glen said he met Coats at a shopping centre in Broomhill, Glasgow, on April 26, 2011.

He said Lynda owed him £180,000 and had repaid more than £50,000. But he said at the meeting Coats claimed that money was his.

Mr Glen said Coats wanted to show him something. He added: “Colin went into the back of his trousers and pulled out a polythene bag. It was an Asda bag.

“He rolled the bag back and gestured towards me and when I looked in, there was a thumb in the bag. I was horrified.”

He said Coats then said: “We’ve got her. We’ve always had her. We brought her back from London.”

Mr Glen added: “I know he was referring to Lynda Spence.”

He said that they went into a nearby cafe and Coats went to the toilet. He added: “I was wondering if he was flushing the thumb.”

Mr Glen claimed Coats came back to the table with an A4 book and said he didn’t believe Mr Glen only got about £50,000 from Lynda.

He added: “Colin Coats said, ‘I’ve gone over it twice and people that are having their thumbs cut off don’t tell lies.’

“He then said, ‘I want my money and I want it first and if I don’t get it I’m going to kill you’.”

Later at the cafe, Mr Glen claimed Coats said: “Left or right?”

Mr Glen added: “I didn’t know what he meant and he said, ‘I’m going to cut off her left hand or her right hand to find out the truth.’

“There was reference to my family being killed as well – my wife and child. It was a different world.”

Mr Glen said he was forced to strip after going to Coats’s house in Broomhill in August 2011 to discuss a £196,000 debt. He said Coats was worried he was wearing a wire.

He added: “I felt frightened, degraded. I thought I wasn’t going to come out of it alive.

“That was the end of it as far as I was concerned.”

He said that he went to the police the following day.

A week or two weeks later he got an email from Coats which read: “You seem to have vanished.

“I will get someone to call your mum and dad, sister or brother just to ensure your land deal is still on track. Thumbs up.

“I hope you’ve not done a fatty lol. Best regards Colin.”

Mr Glen said: “Thumbs up related to him cutting off Lynda’s thumb and fatty was a reference to her.”

He said Coats told him: “It’s not very nice to cut someone’s head off.”